+ Page 109 + ---------------------------------------------------------------- The Public-Access Computer Systems Review 1, No. 3 (1990): 109-115. ---------------------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------------------------------- Review ---------------------------------------------------------------- "MediaTracks" By Steve Cisler The first piece of advanced library technology that I used was in 1950. The branch librarian handed me a shoe box full of photographs, showed me how to insert one in the Stereopticon, and went on to the next person in less than a minute. The only time I needed her help after that initial session was for the storage and retrieval of the shoe box. Then libraries began using electricity for more than lighting and telephones, and the game changed completely. The first time I used a computer was in 1984. The California State Library administered an LSCA grant to provide public access computers in dozens of public libraries around the state. Training the staff to use them was one of the first phases of the project. Choosing hardware and software for purchase was another phase, and making it accessible to the public was the longest and most difficult phase. Having worked in a branch that had been showered with a very rich selection of audio-visual equipment in the early seventies, I was well aware of the time it would take to train staff and public to use any one piece of equipment, whether it was an 8-mm film loop player, a videotape recorder, or a computer. Our staff was willing but felt they were overworked, even before the 128 KB Macintosh arrived with a drawing program, MacWrite, and a spreadsheet. I re-wrote the manuals, digesting the basics into eight-page pamphlets aimed at certain tasks that we expected most people to tackle. Each staff member was able to instruct a novice and have them pecking away at a word processing document after about fifteen minutes of one-on-one instruction. However, the Macintosh was being used over 100 hours a month, and many of the people were first time users. The fifteen minute sessions began to add up quickly, and some of the staff began to tire of explaining over and over how a mouse worked, how to open a document, and how to save (or trash) a file. Answering the same repetitious questions affects some staff more than others, and most of us can use some assistance in the form of instructional aids. + Page 110 + People learn in many different ways. Sitting in a lecture hall, taking notes, and then digesting and applying them to an exercise is a classical method. Perhaps the most effective is to be tutored by an interested, sensitive teacher or friend, but for some reading a manual (computer, unassembled toy, or software) and then struggling alone is the most productive way to master a machine or program. Self-paced tutorials can be very effective for introductions to new technology or for specific tasks such as using an interactive videodisc or logging on to a multiuser database. MediaTracks Making these tutorials has been very complex and time consuming, whether they are on paper or are in electronic format, but a new product from Farallon Computing has changed this. It puts the production of library-specific tutorials into librarians' hands. As with many Macintosh programs you don't spend time fiddling with the interface or learning new commands. Your time is devoted to the tasks which the computer is supposed to facilitate, not to struggling with the computer. MediaTracks is comprised of several parts: a Screen Recorder (which appeared as a separate program over a year ago) that makes a virtual tape of real time events on your Macintosh screen, an editing program for sound and graphics, and several playback options. Screen Recorder is a Desk Accessory which runs while other applications are operating. After naming the tape file the recording begins, and a small control panel is displayed at the bottom of the screen to record, pause, stop, load, or play the tape. All of the actions you perform will be recorded in black and white at the original speed. This demo tape can be edited, integrated into a HyperCard presentation, or turned into a stand- alone application that can be distributed without paying Farallon any license fees. + Page 111 + Many activities lend themselves to Screen Recorder. I have used it to record activities that involved a complex equipment setup such as a network of CD-ROMs, data news feeds from a satellite receiver, an online session with a high speed modem, a LAN e-mail system, or a workstation with a variety of multimedia tools. I can play the tape at a conference, workshop, or other library without hauling all the gear needed for the original. Besides eliminating a lot of equipment for demonstrations, you have the chance to make the demo work before showing it to others! Even if I am doing a live presentation, I will carry a Screen Recorder tape as a backup. Editing Until July, 1990, Screen Recorder could not be edited. Now that it is included in MediaTracks, anyone who knows how to use a Macintosh can modify a tape in a number of ways. Once you boot MediaTracks and choose a tape to edit, a window appears with a single frame at the left of the screen with the sprocket holes stretching to the right. Below the frames are five icons for playing, recording sound, actions, drawing, and changing the view of the tape on the editing board. At the right are two indicators that show the starting time and duration of each frame. If you have made the Screen Recorder tape, you may have an idea of how you want to edit the session. If not, click on the play icon and think about the natural breaks in the tape where you might want to highlight important events and add sounds to explain a complex action. After watching the tape once or twice you can press the "M" key in order to divide it into clips or sections for further editing or annotation. These marks may be removed if you decide they were incorrectly placed, or if you wish to combine two clips. + Page 112 + Marks are generally used to divide a demonstration or tutorial into logical parts. If you are showing someone the basics of an online service you would have an intro, the login sequence, the help screens, a simple search for information and perhaps a more complex search and a logoff sequence. Another use for marks is to cut out dead time and mistakes. If your system is slow to respond you can shorten the demo by cutting seconds from each clip by marking and deleting periods of inactivity. If you entered a wrong command or typo and then corrected yourself during the initial Screen Recorder session, use marks to clean up that part. If you speed up a session, let the user know the actual session may be much slower. Adding Graphics First you can insert a title clip at the beginning of the tape. Double-clicking on the clip opens up a screen and palette with drawing tools for annotation. You can paste in graphics in color or black and white whether it is a diagram of the library, a network map, a scanned photograph of the reference staff, or a list of choices for the user to pursue, i.e. logon, search, or any part of the ensuing demo. Close the window after you finish adding text or graphics. Because this is interactive, the user may not want to watch the whole sequence but jump to new or difficult parts of your tutorial. Another title clip can be inserted elsewhere in the sequence. This can be useful if you want the user to branch to a variety of choices later in the demo. Proceed to the next clip, double click on it, and use the arrows and text boxes to highlight important parts of the screen activity. Don't overwhelm the subject matter by using 36 point type pointing to 9 point type on the screen. + Page 113 + Incorporating Sound Using MacRecorder Besides the graphics, the main addition is sound. Aside from a librarian explaining how a device works, or how to navigate through some information space, sound can be used to reinforce an action or correct a mistake. Farallon makes a package called MacRecorder that works with MediaTracks. The hardware is a bit larger than the Macintosh mouse, plugs into a serial port, and can record voice, input from a tape, VCR, CD, record, or radio in digitized format. The length depends on the amount of RAM you have, so be sure and remember who is going to play this tape. The default setting is for a ten second recording using 256 KB of RAM and sampled at 22Khz (about like AM quality sound). If you have a 5 MB Mac IIcx, and all the tapes are going to run on 1 MB Mac Pluses in the public area, you will have to keep your sound files short or compressed. Spoken word suffers if it compressed too much, but 30 seconds is not too long for a clip. Explaining what is happening is the most common use of sound; most libraries are not going to add theme music from Wheel of Fortune while you wait for the results of a complex Boolean search, though it might be fun to try. Be sure and have someone with a lively voice do the recording. Don't put the user to sleep. Prepare a script and storyboard once you have divided the Screen Recorder tape into clips. For each clip write the commentary, but make it brief. This can be on the Mac or on paper. You may have to make several takes and listen to each one until it sounds right. Buttons and HyperCard A MediaTracks file can be linked to HyperCard using buttons generated in the graphics palette when you edit individual screens. Each button can contain a HyperTalk script of 256 characters or less, so you can start a MediaTracks tape from HyperCard and then control HyperCard from within a tape. Many people have already used HyperCard for their tutorials, and will use selected tape segments from MediaTracks to augment an existing work. + Page 114 + The file can also be played with MediaTracks Player, an 87 KB application that may be distributed freely with the tapes that you make. It has a control panel that is similar to a VCR. Icons allow you to pause, stop, repeat, speed up, slow down, rewind, skip forward/backward, fast forward, step frame by frame, or hide the panel. Finally, the file may saved as a stand-alone tape with the player functions built-in. Double-clicking on the icon begins the tape. Wrapping it up All of these elements (sound, graphics, clips, and text) can be cut, copied and pasted between parts of the file you are constructing, from existing MediaTracks files and from other Macintosh applications. If you have a special sound in a HyperCard tour, it can be copied into a sound clip very easily. If you have an opening title clip from one tape, it can be used in another one. This makes it very easy to share and customize library instruction done for another library. One of the drawbacks for distribution by floppy disk is the size of the final files. Uncompressed sound chunks at 256 KB each quickly pushes the file size over the capacity of an existing floppy disk. You can break up your tapes into pieces that will fit on an 800 KB or 1.4 MB floppy. If you are going to transfer files by hard disk or tape backup, you have no limitations on size. For all of you DOS users: by running a program called PC-Soft, you can make tapes of actual DOS program sessions and then use the Mac to teach new users programs for either operating system! The manual is well written and includes a bibliography for further reading. For advanced users there are sections that help you set up menus, multilevel presentations, and quiz clips which can take the user back to elements of your demo for reinforcement. The Apple Library Users Group (10381 Bandley Dr. MS: 8C, Cupertino, CA 95014) has a template exchange for database management and HyperCard templates. With MediaTracks we expect to be exchanging tapes of common library activities: searching CD-ROMs, using Internet and BITNET resources, and demonstrations of OPACs. While there are none yet, perhaps this review will help you decide to share your own efforts. + Page 115 + Product Information MediaTracks Farallon Computing, Inc. 2000 Powell Street, Suite 600 Emeryville, CA 94608 (415) 596-9000 Prices (U.S. Dollars): MM100 MediaTracks--295.00 (if you already own MacRecorder) MM110 MediaTracks Multimedia Pack--495.00 (includes MacRecorder) MM111 MediaTracks Multimedia Pack - CD ROM Version--495.00 (includes many sample MediaTracks demos) MR200 MacRecorder Sound System 2.0--249.00 (Includes HyperSound, HyperSound Toolkit, and SoundEdit) About the Author Steve Cisler Senior Scientist 10381 Bandley Drive Cupertino, CA 95014 (408) 974-3258 SAC@APPLE.COM ----------------------------------------------------------------- The Public-Access Computer Systems Review is an electronic journal. It is sent free of charge to participants of the Public-Access Computer Systems Forum (PACS-L), a computer conference on BITNET. To join PACS-L, send an electronic mail message to LISTSERV@UHUPVM1 that says: SUBSCRIBE PACS-L First Name Last Name. This article is Copyright (C) 1990 by Steve Cisler. All Rights Reserved. The Public-Access Computer Systems Review is Copyright (C) 1990 by the University Libraries, University of Houston. All Rights Reserved. Copying is permitted for noncommercial use by computer conferences, individual scholars, and libraries. Libraries are authorized to add the journal to their collection, in electronic or printed form, at no charge. This message must appear on all copied material. All commercial use requires permission. ----------------------------------------------------------------